Just when you thought it would be quite some time before anything could begin to put any real strain on your SLI'd 7800GTX's, think again! FutureMark have released their next brute force graphical benchmarking suite, "3DMark06". '05 Still manages to bring most current mid-range spec'd systems to their knees, so without having seen 06 in action yet I dread to think how it'll run on my X800XT PE.

Many new software technologies and refinements have been implemented into their latest masterpiece, such as full support for SM3.0, HDR lighting, and heaps more.

FM's official announcement can be read here, and below has all the coverage from sites around the globe (check back for more as I update the listing!).

At 600MB, its one LARGE mother. A number of sites are kindly hosting it via this listing at the FutureMark website.

Saratoga, California USA - January 18, 2006 - Continuing forward in the development of advanced game performance benchmarks, Futuremark announced today the release and immediate availability of 3DMark06. A more comprehensive and unrestricted benchmark than previous versions, 3DMark06 includes an array of 3D graphics, CPU and 3D feature tests for overall performance measurement of current and future PC gaming systems. With this broader design approach, 3DMark06 will be the benchmark of choice for all PCs with top-of-the-line graphics hardware and CPUs. Futuremark predicts that 3DMark06 will emerge as the most complete 3D graphics benchmark for Windows XP, paving the way for new benchmarks targeted at future OS environments such as Windows Vista.